Royals' Getz: 'We're still in it'

JEFFREY FLANAGAN

FS Kansas City

KANSAS CITY, Mo. --Royals second baseman
Chris Getz is back, and he says he is ready to help the Royals make their move.

Cue the collective groan from all the Johnny Giavotella fans.

Getz was back in the clubhouse on Friday after spending the past three-plus weeks at Triple-A Omaha, and he said he believes the Royals are still in contention in the American League Central. The Royals opened a three-game set with the division-leading
Tigers on Friday night at Kauffman Stadium.

"Statistically we're still in it," Getz said. "This (playing the Tigers) is where we can make up ground and go from there.

"I haven't been around the last few weeks but I know the makeup of the team and I know we have already overcome some struggles. We can do that. That's a good recipe for us.

"We have a chance to gain some ground against Detroit -- the team we need to gain on."

Getz presumably will be back to playing virtually every day, something he wasn't doing before he got demoted last month.

Getz hit .313 during his stint in Omaha, but his on-base percentage was the same. Giavotella hit .206 replacing Getz, but had just 34 at bats before being shipped back down Thursday.

"I felt it went pretty good there in Omaha," Getz said. "The main thing is I was just playing every day. I made adjustments and I was able to do that because I was playing every day. It was so hard here trying to make any adjustments because of the role I was in -- and hey, I deserved to be in that role because I wasn't playing well.

"But playing just twice or three times a week, it's hard to get anything going because each time you get in a game, it's just a big battle to be successful. But when you're playing every day you can relax a little more and things carry over from one day to the next. When you're not playing, it's hard to be productive or make changes.

"Now I feel like I've made some changes and they'll stick."

Getz also said he doesn't feel like this shot to keep the second-base job might be his last.

"None of those thoughts have crossed my mind," he said. "I won't allow those thoughts to happen. I'm going to just continue my routine that I developed in Omaha and come back here and help the team. "

You can follow Jeffrey Flanagan on Twitter at @jflanagankc or email him at jeffreyflanagan6@gmail.com